After five years of training, two practice jumps and one hell of an ambitious plan, Felix Baumgartner makes his record-setting supersonic skydive from 120,000 feet today — and you can watch it here live.
More on ‘Fearless’ Felix:
What We Can Learn from ‘Fearless’ Felix’s Supersonic Skydive
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‘Fearless’ Felix Hopes to Break Record, Sound Barrier, In 23-Mile Skydive
The Physics of the Red Bull Stratos JumpJust before dawn, “Fearless Felix” will don a custom-made spacesuit and ascend high over the New Mexico desert in a capsule suspended beneath an immense helium balloon, then fall to earth from 120,000 feet. The Austrian adventurer hopes to break an unofficial record Col. Joe Kittinger set with a leap from 102,800 feet in 1960, and expand our understanding of what happens during a free fall from extreme altitude. Such lessons could be valuable as commercial space flight takes off.
Baumgartner spent much of Monday taking it easy — a light cardio workout, then relaxing with his family — to prepare himself physically and mentally for the big day.
“I’ll probably feel the most anxious when I’m trying to sleep in the hours before I start getting ready, when everything’s quiet and it’s just me and my thoughts,” Baumgartner said Monday in a statement. “Once my day begins, I’ll have a lot to do and my mind will have something to focus on.”
Like not dying.
To that end, the Red Bull Stratos team went through a detailed “dress rehearsal” of the 58 steps Baumgartner and his team will follow before his capsule, suspended beneath a 55-story helium balloon, lifts off from Roswell, New Mexico at dawn Tuesday. Baumgartner’s already made two test jumps — from 13 miles up in March and from 18 miles up in July — and so he knows the routine, but practice makes perfect.
“Rehearsal is critical,” crew leader Andy Walshe said in a statement. “Everything went wonderfully well and the crew was on their game. A couple of times we were ahead of schedule, which is really reassuring. It gives us a sense of confidence.”
Timing will be key because the launch window is small. The wind cannot be blowing any more than 2 or 3 mph when the massive balloon is inflated, a procedure that will take 45 minutes to an hour. The good news is Mother Nature should cooperate. After a 24-hour postponement due to weather, all systems are go for Tuesday’s launch.
“The one-day delay gives us an extra day to go over things,” Walshe commented. “We must be patient. We will get him up there – and once we do, you will never forget it.”
Red Bull will livestream the jump — Baumgartner’s space suit includes five hi-def cameras — and we’ll carry the whole thing right here. The feed goes live at 6:30 a.m. Mountain standard time (8:30 a.m. Eastern), and lift-off is slated for 6:57 a.m. (8:57 a.m. Eastern). Baumgartner is expected to land between 10 and 10:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. Eastern) and arrive back at Mission Control for a briefing by 10:45 a.m.
Here’s the livestream:
In the meantime, here’s a video of the weekend’s nighttime dress rehearsal:
